Review: Highland Park Ice Edition

Highland Park Ice Edition – 17 Year Old – 53.9% abv

Info: Highland Park have matured Ice Edition for 17 years predominantly in ex-bourbon casks and limited globally to 30,000 bottles. Ice will be followed by Fire in 2017. Colour: Light gold and clear. There’s no colouring here. Nose: Sweet puffs of dry summery peat, think the sort of peat that might be produced on moors covered in flowering heather. Lots of gentle tropical fruits, think bananas which are just getting to the ripe stage, not totally black, but getting there. Boiled sweets (candies). Palate: Fairly thick and oily, covering your mouth with warming but gentle spices (think root ginger) which only slowly build. There’s plenty of sweet fruits up front, those tropical notes on the nose coming through nicely on the palate, ripe mango maybe.Finish: The gentle peat is more apparent here as the fruits give way to the slow simmering peat fires from the heathland. It’s creamy and balanced with enough oak to please. Thoughts: Whether you like the bottle or not, and whether the price is one you can afford or not, there’s no denying the quality of the whisky is great. It’s a very enjoyable dram indeed, lighter than some HPs, but given a great gravatas by the cask strength nature. Fab. Available: Master of Malt or Whisky Exchange – £190 (currently sold out in both shops)